Category: Uncategorized

Not long ago, I visited The Cloisters in New York City. By definition, a cloisters area is an open hallway that surrounds a protected garden. It is a natural walkway where monks and nuns might retreat into nature and still have a degree of protection from the elements, like wind, rain, snow, sun–and other people, too. At…

In his introduction to The Cottage Gardener’s Companion: A Seasonal Guide to Plants & Plantings for Informal Gardens, Douglas Taylor said that cottage gardens are like horses. They are easier to recognize than they are to describe: “Perhaps the chief hallmark [of a cottage garden] is informality.” He observed that the old cottage gardens did…